Footballer, Charity Ambassador, Actor
23 October 1940 to 15 February 2023
A Brazilian footballer, who is best known as the winner of three World Cups, the only player to do so, and later as an ambassador for the likes of the UN and UNESCO. However, Pelé (real name: Edson Arantes do Nascimento) did act in a few films and television shows, often playing himself, or a fictional version of himself, as in A Minor Miracle (1985) and Mike Bassett: England Manager (both 2001). As an actor, he is perhaps best known in the UK for his role in Escape to Victory (1981). He made a small cameo in a feature film biopic of his life, Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016).
Read Pelé's New York Times obituary
